Norm Noble
On Tuesday, November 3, Dr. Fred DePrez, recently-retired Principal of Hamilton High School and member of the Sun Lakes Rotary, will be part of a team of guest speakers presenting “We the People.” At the end of the 2015 school year, Fred retired, ending a remarkable 17-year run at one of the most successful schools in Arizona. The only principal the school has ever known, Fred started with Hamilton when the school opened in 1998 with 1,600 freshmen, sophomores and juniors, and no senior class.
We the People is the Citizen and Constitution Program that promotes civic competence and responsibility among the nation’s secondary students using a congressional hearing format. The Simulated Congressional Hearing provides students opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of constitutional principles and ideas while providing teachers an excellent means of assessing student learning. The entire class, working in cooperative teams, prepares and presents four-minute statements before a panel of community representatives acting as a congressional committee. Students then answer follow-up questions posed by the committee members. Hamilton High School’s We the People team has won our congressional district’s competition each year for the last 17 years.
On Sunday, November 8, the Sun Lakes Rotary Club will host its annual Pancake Breakfast. See details in the two-page promotion elsewhere in the Splash.
On Tuesday, November 10, the Sun Lakes Rotary will honor our nation’s veterans in a special ceremony, one looked forward to annually. If you are a veteran, come to this breakfast meeting. We want to honor you. And if you are able, wear your uniform. (P.S. Very few of our members can).
On Tuesday, November 24, Sandy Lundberg, Principal of Casteel High School, will present “From Breaking Ground to Ground Breaking Innovations – Essential Steps for Opening a Comprehensive High School.” Her talk will delve into branding, setting a vision, curriculum programming, marketing, and community relations.
Casteel High School, named after current Superintendent Dr. Camille Casteel, is the newest secondary school in the Chandler Unified School District. It is a public 7-12 comprehensive high school employing a strong integrated curriculum, with special emphasis in engineering, computer information systems technology, entrepreneurship and product design. In the near future, it will incorporate a strong fine arts component with the construction of a state-of-the-art Performing Arts center.
Casteel High School opened this year and will graduate its first class in the spring of 2019. Principal Sandy Lundberg has been in public education for 26 years as a teacher and administrator at the elementary and secondary levels. This is her fifth year in the Chandler district. Previously, she was Director of Curriculum K-12 and Principal of Arizona College Preparatory-Oakland Campus.
The Rotary Club of Sun Lakes meets for breakfast every Tuesday morning at 6:30 a.m. in the Oakwood Country Club Ballroom. The meetings start at 7:00 a.m. and end promptly at 8:00 a.m. The cost of breakfast is $12. To make reservations for any meeting, contact Rotarian Don Prestin at 480-802-0439.